The game takes place in an urban city called Metro City. As the story unfolds, the city's local superhero named Vortex is outnumbered by gangs and killed. With the city's protector murdered, the crime grows rapidly. Soon enough the city's crimelords start fighting over control of the city, until a villain named Sutekh takes control, combining all the gangs into one. With the city completely overrun by Sutekh and the other crimelords, it is soon devoured in crime. A vigilante named Mark Gray (alias, Nightshade) decides to step up and take the law into his own hands, vowing to rid Metro City of crime.